Hello there! I am Daniel, a longtime fan of David Auerbach’s, and I have created this GoFundMe to help this wonderful musician in a time of need.

David’s wife has Parkinson’s. This, after a long series of other serious family illnesses he has had to manage for the past several years, has caused financial hardship and loss of work. A critical moment now confronts him.

He has become unable to keep up with storage rents, and faces the loss of the family’s personal possessions, as well as instruments, recording session and master tapes, and other professional gear, all being sold at auction.

Please help our dear friend David to get through this time of crisis and save his belongings! Anything helps, and we are so grateful for your contribution. Please also spread the word far and wide so we may reach as many people as possible!

Here are links to some of his beautiful songs (more, from another recording, will be posted soon):

King Wenceslas Reel:

https://youtu.be/fLNLwAXBhdI

Sweet Magnolia Tree:

https://youtu.be/ZrT2QXiL7VI

Peace to You:

https://youtu.be/NcWlrA4KhUY

Dickens’ Dream:

https://youtu.be/T3Wz50sliJw

For some more extensive background about David and his current circumstances, see the update that features his statement.

Below is my story about the part his music has played in my own life.

Thank you and all my love,

Daniel

******

I have a little story to tell.

When I was growing up, a significant part of the soundtrack of our home was the music of a magical musical wizard figure named David Auerbach. He called himself The Improvisator, and he played on instruments from all over the world, some of them which were ancient and largely forgotten in our modern era. His time, as it would come to appear, was at the end of an age of culture and music in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was the middle-aged years for the hippies and woodsy folks, and those who marveled at the tales of old of the world. David performed his timeless and twinkly music for intimate gatherings in the caves of the wine country. In this community, and in hearing the sounds of the ancient instruments echoing off the walls of the earth, it seemed the magic of old was not yet lost. Well, times have changed since then…

Over the years, a song would return to me, rich and pure and true, of wanderers on a mystical journey for which the deepest longing was eventually fulfilled:

“In the middle of the sea, there blooms a sweet magnolia tree. Before the eyes of the wandering, appears the vision that they long to see.”

The enchanting melody and feeling of the song, and this particular line of the lyrics, would come to me, pleasantly, hauntingly, eternally, over and over. At once its message of goodness as well as dreamy memories of childhood would flow through my being. Then the experience would pass, and the doings of my day to day life would come back into focus. At some point, the song became a strong and lasting enough presence in my consciousness to break through my dreamy state and I questioned: What song was this? I knew it so well, and yet I couldn’t remember who played it. Surely mom and dad would know. So I asked them. They each said almost exactly the same thing: “I think that is from the album Carols in the Caves, by David Auerbach. He would perform concerts in the wine caves in Napa and Sonoma. He called himself The Improvisator. He played ancient and amazing instruments from all over the world.” Carols in the Caves! David Auerbach! That’s right! I remember that name now from when I was a kid, but who is this guy? A local Bay Area musician? Is he still around? Does he still play? Can I find his music somewhere?

I started to search online for any information I could find. Not too much came up. There were other David Auerbachs that featured more prominently in search results. Adding in more specific language to my Google searches helped, but still I couldn’t find anything more than some possible discography information, and a couple of older articles written about him that at least spoke of who he was. There didn’t seem to be any place to listen to his music online, nor on any music app. I so longed to hear that song, and see how it sounded after all these years and against the backdrop of my memories. Eureka! I found a CD of Carols in the Caves on eBay that looked promising! I ordered it with high hopes. However, upon arrival it didn’t seem to reference any sort of song that seemed it could be that “Sweet Magnolia Tree” song playing in my mind and heart. I played the album through, and although I loved it, the song was not there, and it seemed it must be a different album entirely. Maybe my parents were wrong? It must not be Carols in the Caves after all, but maybe it was some other David Auerbach album instead. Back to the search! However, I had no luck in finding any other David Auerbach album in CD format. Eventually, in looking back through a picture I had taken on my phone of old cassette tapes we were clearing out when my dad was moving out of my childhood home and birthplace I saw, in a picture of a couple dozen cassettes, a tape called “Echoes in the Sanctuary” by David Auerbach! I searched for this album online, and there was a used tape for sale on Amazon! I looked at the song list in the photos of the cassette in the Amazon listing, and though it didn’t seem completely certain that any of the songs were the one I longed to hear, there was a song listed that was named “Footsteps of the Wanderers”, and I thought “Maybe that’s it!” I considered purchasing the cassette; however, I wasn’t sure I had a player that I was confident in using to play it without distorting or ruining the tape somehow. So, I thought maybe if by a miracle I could somehow find a way of contacting this mysterious magical musician of my dreams, he would have some sort of CD or digital format of the Echoes in the Sanctuary album, as that Wanderers song name appeared to be the most promising yet. But, who knows, maybe the song I searched for wasn’t even by David Auerbach after all?

Eventually I found a website for the magic man, that seemed maybe long forgotten, but I wondered if it could lead to still further discovery. At last I found a contact phone number of some sort! I gave it a call, but nobody answered, and so I left a message on the answering machine. At this point in time, the year 2021 was coming to an end.

Months passed, and though the song featured ever more prominently in the melodies that would leave my lips, and the desire to finally hear that old recording of it one way or another only grew, I figured this magical tune from an old chapter of my life and the Bay Area, may fade into obscurity and be a distant melody in the recesses of my memory. Then one day, my phone rang. And lo and behold, it was HE! It was David Auerbach himself! I was overjoyed! It was a whole new sense of magic, beyond just the song that had so powerfully called to me. I spoke with him, and told him how I grew up listening to his music and had loved it and wanted so much to be able to listen to it again. He was as magical and wonderful and kind on the phone as all of the love and beauty that his music expressed. I was so indescribably grateful for this opportunity. And, sure enough, true to his kind and pure spirit, he offered to fish an old copy of the Echoes in the Sanctuary cassette out of storage and mail it to me. He insisted on giving it to me as a gift, and wouldn’t accept even any reimbursement for shipping, and spoke to how much it had delighted him to hear the story of my magical childhood experience of his music, and my search to find it as an adult. Amazing! I hesitated to mention the Sweet Magnolia Tree song over the phone, as at this point I was no longer confident that the song was indeed his. However, I felt that it somehow must be. I figured I’d give the album a listen first to see if I could find the song, before bringing it up in conversation with him. At this point, my wife Melissa and I were traveling full-time for a period in our lives. Presently, we were visiting family in Sonoma and Marin counties. We had a mail forwarding address set up in Texas for receiving packages and mail during our travels. I gave David this address, and hung up the phone, smiling ear to ear, and with a warmed heart.

Within weeks of my conversation with David, we learned that Melissa was pregnant with our first child. Such joyous news! And, we felt it was time for Melissa, our new baby-to-be, and me to start heading back eastward across the country, as ultimately our next destination was Florida, where we would visit some more family and eventually settle back down for the next chapter of our lives. Upon arriving back in Florida, we traveled around the state to various regions and cities, visiting family and friends, and giving thoughtful consideration to where it felt right to plant our roots and welcome this new arrival into the world. On our way to visit some friends in St. Petersburg, the phone rang once more and once again I had the pleasure of speaking with David. He hadn’t yet shipped the cassette, but it would happen soon. We moved on from St. Petersburg, and for the next couple of months explored various areas we thought we may want to move to. Though we didn’t expect it, it was back in St. Petersburg that we landed, as we had felt clearly guided back there after exploring our various options. Standing on a little pier in St. Pete looking out over the beautiful Tampa Bay, I spoke with David over the phone again. This time, I told him the address we were currently at for the next month or so until we found a permanent place to live, and said he could send his package there. It was the first half of 2022, and the baby was due in September. The hunt was on to find a stable living situation before our child arrived!

Once again, months passed. In fact, all told, about a full year passed. In April of 2023, I received a phone call from David. He told me that, after it had taken him so long to get the album to me, he eventually had sent it, along with some other old cassettes of his, as a Christmas gift towards the end of 2022. However, now in April 2023 the package had just arrived from the post office back at his mailbox as undeliverable! Indeed, by the end of 2022 we had been settled into our own longer term home for some months, that we had been so grateful to find just a couple of months before our baby boy was born. So the package had been sent to the temporary address we were at the year prior and then returned to sender! I gave him our present and now more permanent address. Before long, in the Spring of 2023, about a year and a half after my search had begun in earnest, David’s package arrived at our doorstep! The box was covered in playful Christmas stickers and, as you would imagine, reflected his warmth and magic in every way. I opened the package to find a few cassettes. I looked them over. One was entitled “Carols in the Caves”, and it seemed to be an entirely different album from the CD I had purchased on eBay years prior! And THERE IT WAS listed: “Sweet Magnolia Tree”!!! It is here! It is here! It IS David Auerbach after all! Confirmed! At last! The song is here! Now, to give it a listen. I hesitated to use my old Walkman, as I had tried playing an old family history cassette on it back in 2021 and it had sounded distorted, and I definitely did not want to harm this precious tape that contained the song I so wished to hear. So, I went searching for used cassette players. During my search, and in digging through our own belongings that we had finally gotten out of storage a while back, we found a quality old cassette player. I tried it, but it didn’t work. Probably an old broken belt in there. Amid our busy lives, and scrambling to make ends meet with our new baby, there was no time for a potentially costly or lengthy cassette player repair. Ok, could we find a reasonably priced cassette transfer service locally that we would entrust with David’s precious albums? Alright, there’s one just five minutes from us that seems to be both reputable and affordable! Off to the transfer man we go, with a thumb drive to hold the digital recordings! Within the week, we had the thumb drive in hand.

Finally, the moment I had been intently awaiting for the past couple of years, and more broadly awaiting for the past decade or two. Into the computer the thumb drive went, and up popped the names of the albums. Partway through the B side of Carols in the Caves, it came on, and the melody of my childhood dreamtimes sweetly sang “In the middle of the sea, there blooms a sweet magnolia tree. Before the eyes of the wandering, appears the vision that they long to see.” Indeed, before the eyes of the wandering. AND, before the EARS of the wandering…it happened. REJOICE!!! Tears filled my eyes, and also Melissa’s eyes. Our baby Aven instantly loved the music as well, and smiled and giggled with glee. My soul beheld the tune, and that angelic message, that I longed to hear. THANK YOU DAVID AUERBACH!!! Thank you for this song, thank you for the love you give into this world, and thank you for this magnificent journey!

And the album held more magical melodies that came bubbling back up in my consciousness as I listened in enchantment to this wonderful old creation.

As wondrous as it was, unfortunately the Carols in the Caves album had not been transferred in a high quality. It was distorted and very tinny sounding. I was sad about this, however, overjoyed nonetheless that it was here in some listenable form.

Now, it was time to share David’s magical tunes with the world! I sent the digital Carols in the Caves to my parents and my brothers. I sent it to an old childhood friend that had heard it around my house growing up. We played it for new friends in St. Petersburg, who soon joined us in singing along to it! I learned the songs “Sweet Magnolia Tree” and “Peace to You” on ukulele, and played them all the time. We played and sang them at the beach where passersby might be hearing them for the first time on their stroll along the water’s edge. Life was richer and more full with David Auerbach’s music featured so beautifully back in it. Everyone loved his music.

Eventually the 2023 holidays approached. Carols in the Caves, as the name might suggest, is a Christmas themed album. It was the perfect Christmas soundtrack. Many people partook. And Melissa, Aven and I decided to call David and play and sing some of his songs for him over the phone. We reached his voicemail and left a message. We thought it might be nice to record a little video of us singing the songs and send it to him, if nothing else. However, the video wouldn’t send via text. A while passed, and eventually I got a call from David. He was thankful for the Christmas voicemail we had left him, and we caught up some about life. I asked a bit more intimate questions in this conversation, and so many personal questions in, it eventually came out that David had been in hard financial times for a while now. A few years ago, his wife had fallen seriously ill, and this had developed into a financial crisis. David had been looking for more work lately, but in his 70’s he was having a hard time finding a job. His wife’s social security wasn’t enough to pay the bills. David shared that he had gotten so behind on his storage unit rent that a date was approaching when he might lose all of its contents - family keepsakes, his music, his beloved instruments from around the world. He had a good attitude about it all, and was very humble. But it was obvious that he was also sad, and distraught. I asked what I could do to help. I started dreaming and scheming, and I thought of the possibility of a GoFundMe fundraiser. David was hesitant at first, but he eventually came around to the idea of receiving help in this wildly modern and radical kind of way.

So, this brings us to today. David wants to continue making music. He is confident that once he gets steady employment again, he can get back to doing what he has done so well for many decades. He has gifted so much to us and our world. He has a song that he says to him even exceeds the special quality of “Sweet Magnolia Tree.” He wants to make another album.

Please help! Let’s all pull together to lift up our sweet friend David, save his music and personal belongings, his instruments and recordings, and give him a fresh start. I pray that together, we can give David a bit of the love that he has so abundantly shared with us over the years. I am grateful for all of you. Thank you for listening to my story. And if this has touched your heart, or you know of David, please, please, please, join us in helping him in this time of need!

Here are links to some of his wonderful songs from the 1989 cassette album entitled Carols in the Caves, in their original order (check back to hear some different music from the '98 Carols in the Caves CD that I will upload and post links for soon as well):

King Wenceslas Reel:

https://youtu.be/fLNLwAXBhdI

Sweet Magnolia Tree:

https://youtu.be/ZrT2QXiL7VI

Peace to You:

https://youtu.be/NcWlrA4KhUY

Dickens’ Dream:

https://youtu.be/T3Wz50sliJw

We only have days to make this happen, so let’s catch some lightning in a bottle together! If you feel called, please share far and wide so we can reach as many people as possible!

Peace to you and everyone!

All of my love,

Daniel

Help a Musician Save His Recordings & Instruments!

Still $17,423 to go. Help us build momentum.